“If you aren’t in the moment you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret”

-Jim Carey

Like many of you, I am often left wondering about the state of affairs of our country, our communities and our lives. In today’s world, we’re constantly exposed to attacks, shootings, major tragedies and political conflict. It’s almost impossible to ignore what’s going on. It’s everywhere- in the newspaper, on TV, and social media.

We are all living and breathing human beings, experiencing change and uncertainty every single day of our lives. We live with fear, self-doubt and judgement, and those emotions are often compounded by who and what we see, around us.

Yet, what we know for sure is that there are 24 hours in a day, and 365 days in a year. What we know is that we have the ability to make choices in our lives and decisions that affect us right now, and in our future. We can choose kindness over indifference, good instead of evil and love over hate.

As former President Obama said “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek”

We can choose to be angry, resentful and hurt over things and actions that we have no control over, or we can live our lives, embracing the beauty that surrounds us, and the possibilities ahead of us. We can take matters in to our own hands, and do our part to make the world a better place.

A question I often ask myself is “what can I do to make a difference today?”

We know that bad things will continue to happen in this world, in this country and in our communities.

We can react to these situations with the first impulse that comes to mind, or we can choose to live intentionally, embracing our differences, sending love to those who need it, and practicing compassion instead of judgement.

Simply put, what we need isn’t more division but instead greater connection to each other. Open the windows of your soul and let your curiosity flow. Practice replacing judgment with empathy.

And as Gandhi so eloquently said “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him…..We need not wait to see what others do”